Destined for an Early Grave (16 page)

Spade and I spread the pictures onto a nearby table. The first one was a shot along Bourbon Street. Not very distinct, but yes, it was Bones. He was walking in the middle of the street. Even with the usual throngs of people, he stood out.

Thank God,
was my initial thought.

I flipped to the second image. Bones was in front of his house, if I recognized the structure. And there was a woman in his arms.

A low growl escaped me. I flipped to the next page. The third image had me belting out a curse and almost flinging it at Spade.

“Needed some time to himself, huh? Funny how he doesn’t seem to be doing that alone!”

The last image was only a partial of Bones’s face. He was half inside the gate leading to his door. The same tramp was plastered to him, I could tell from her outfit, and his features were blocked because he was kissing her.

“He’s a cheating prick,” Tate said tonelessly. “He hasn’t emerged from his house since that shot, according to the satellite. I don’t need to tell you that soon we’ll have to point it back where it belongs, Cat. Don’s stretching his authority on this one.”

“Mother
fucker
,” I spat.

“This doesn’t prove anything,” Spade said, recovering from his astonishment. “We don’t know what’s going on, or who this woman is. She could be a contact and these actions a ruse.”

“Oh, there’s contact, all right.” I wanted to study the photos and destroy them at the same time. “Full frontal, from what I can see!”

“Damn straight,” Tate muttered.

“Quiet,” Spade barked at Tate, easing his pitch when he turned to me. “Crispin wouldn’t betray you that way, no matter how livid he was. There’s an explanation for this. Let Fabian go and find it.”

Underneath my fury, there was also piercing hurt. I wanted to believe that this was all a misunderstanding. And yet deep down inside there was an insinuating, slithering fear. What if it wasn’t?

“Okay.” Forced out while my head started to pound. “Fabian, you get down there and find Bones. Let him explain to you who this chick is. I’ll wait to see what Bones says.”

“Are you out of your fucking mind?” Tate burst. “Didn’t you look at those pictures? What more do you need, live video feed?”

“Sometimes that isn’t right either,” I yelled back. My eyes stung, but I didn’t cry. “I found that out the hard way, and I’m not making the same mistake twice.”

Tate just stared at me with disbelief. Then he said, “You’re a fool,” before walking away in disgust.

“I’ll bring you word,” Fabian promised.

“Please do.” I glanced at the photos again. “No matter what it is.”

J
UAN CAME TO PICK
F
ABIAN UP
. F
ROM JUAN’S
friendly but cautious greeting, I knew he’d seen the pictures.

“How long before he gets there?” I asked Juan when they were about to leave.

He shuffled.
“Querida,
if I’m specific, it’ll tell you too much.”

“Approximately,” I prodded, hating this necessary secrecy, but Gregor had proved he was still sifting in my dreams. If I somehow fell asleep, damned if I’d give him anything useful.

“Around a day, allowing for contact time and return,” he estimated.

That long? I’d wear holes in the floor pacing.

“Fine.” Years of faking cool when I was an emotional wreck had its advantages. “Take care of my ghost.”

Juan gave a wary glance to his shoulder. Fabian smiled at me, his hand disappearing into Juan’s collarbone.

“Good seeing you,
querida
,” Juan said, still giving his shoulder a cagey stare. I waved with a forced smile. Mustn’t look like the worried, jilted wife.

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Spade rub his temple. Annette was in the doorway, almost leaning on the frame. It had been a long time since any of us had slept.

“Get some sleep, guys. This isn’t a group contest on who can stay awake the longest. Especially you, Spade. You may need to be sharp when we get word, so you don’t have a choice.”

He nodded. “Just a few hours. That should tide me over.”

“If you’re worried that I’ll nod off, don’t. I can safely say there’s enough on my mind to keep me up.”

Spade gave Tate a condemning glare. “For all we know, those images were doctored. His jealousy of Crispin is boundless. It wouldn’t astonish me in the least to have Fabian report back that there was no such woman.”

“Yeah, right,” Tate scoffed. “I wouldn’t do that. Before anything else, I’m Cat’s friend. And if Bones has nothing to hide, then why’s he hiding?”

“Enough, guys.” They were making my head worse.

Spade gave Tate a final glare. “You’ll be proven wrong soon enough. I’ll enjoy informing Crispin about how you needlessly upset Cat in your futile quest to have her, because I think at last he’ll kill you for it.”

Tate squared his shoulders. “I’m upsetting her with the truth because I’ll be damned if I’ll shut up while he runs around behind her back making a fool of her.”

Spade stared at Tate in a way that worried me. He looked like he was fighting not to kill him.

“You’re very lucky Crispin made me swear never to harm you,” Spade settled on. “Else you’d already be missing your head.”

“Sleep tight,” Tate shot back.

“That better be your last word,” I warned Tate. Spade wasn’t all bark and no bite. Didn’t Tate know that?

Spade tensed like all bets were off. I considered tackling him, but then decided on a different tactic.

I swayed with a gasp and put my hand to my head. Spade was at my side in a blink. His chivalrousness went even deeper than his temper.

“What is it, Cat?”

“All this stress and lack of sleep…I feel a little faint.”

With a final threatening glance at Tate, Spade touched my arm. “I’ll get you some water.”

He went inside, and I turned my attention to Tate. “I probably just saved your life,” I said quietly.

Vlad had been watching the whole thing with faint amusement. He’d known I was faking since he would have heard it in my head.

“Young man, one day I suspect you’ll have a terrible accident,” he said to Tate. “Keep provoking people, and it will be one day soon.”

Tate rolled his eyes. “Yeah, yeah, I know—you’ll kill me something awful. If only I had a dime for every time I heard that.”

“If I wanted you dead, you would be. You should mind your speech so when you do piss someone off past his control, you’ll be strong enough to have a chance at surviving it.”

“Good advice,” I added. “You should listen to him.”

Tate swung his gaze at me. “Fuck, Cat. I’d be jumping at my own shadow if was scared of every threat directed at me. One day I’m gonna die. Everyone will, even our kind. I’ll be damned if I spend what time I have sniveling like a coward, kissing ass so I don’t make people angry. All I’ve got is how I live. How I’ll die? That’s the problem of the guy who kills me.”

“God,” I muttered. He just wouldn’t listen.

Vlad let out a whistle. “I’ve wondered what she saw in you. You seem so pitiful most of the time. At least you have some semblance of courage.”

“You motherfucker—” Tate began.

His feet caught fire. Then his hands. The forward momentum he’d used to charge at Vlad was abruptly changed into an odd stomping dance while Tate tried to douse the flames.

Vlad tutted. “See? Watch your temper.”

“Ahem.” I cleared my throat. “You mind?”

The fire slowly extinguished on Tate. I shook my head. Fabian couldn’t come back fast enough. Who would have thought I’d be so anxious to see a ghost?

“Can I trust you not to kill him, Vlad, while I go inside and
not
sleep?” I asked.

Vlad smiled. “For a while, you can.”

Juan didn’t come back. Neither did Fabian, though it wasn’t eighteen hours before there was word. It came in the form of a phone call. Funny how terrible news usually came to me by phone.

“Cat.”

Juan’s voice. As soon as I heard it, I knew it was bad. He sounded so controlled. So forcibly gentle.

“I didn’t want to wait to tell you,
querida
…”

Vlad was staring at me. Tate was, too. Spade almost had his head on my shoulder to hear the report firsthand.

“When Fabian found him, it was clear that Bones wasn’t being held against his will. He, ah, indicated that he wanted Fabian to leave…would you pull yourself together,
amigo
?” This was presumably to the ghost, since I hadn’t broken down. Yet. “Look,
querida
, Fabian said Bones was very harsh. Told him to sod off, or similar.”

I took a deep breath. “So you’re saying he wanted to be left alone still. Did—did he say for how long? Did he say anything about me?”

I couldn’t help it; my voice cracked at the last question. My heart was racing, and I felt faint, but at least my legs were straight.

“Sí.”
Juan sounded like he’d swallowed something rancid. “Fabian asked, ‘How am I supposed to tell your wife this?’ and Bones said…”

Juan stopped. “Said what?” I almost screamed.

“He said, ‘I have no wife.’”

Spade snatched the cell out of my numb fingers. “That’s a bloody lie!”

“Look, I don’t like it either,” I heard Juan snap. “But he’s not lying.”

Spade didn’t stop fuming. “I’ve known that man 220 years, and I can tell you—”

“Let it go, Spade.”

He quit his ranting at my calm tone and gaped at me. “You don’t believe this rot, do you?”

I think I laughed. Hell if I could say for certain. “I guess after seeing satellite imagery and hearing eyewitness accounts, I’m going to side with
yes.
Answer me this—did Bones actually say he was coming back to me? Or did you assume?”

Spade straightened. “He didn’t need to write it down for me to know his intentions—”

Now I was sure about the laugh, and it was ugly. “In other words, no, you assumed.”

Here Bones had clearly told me it was over, but I still hadn’t gotten it. I’d clung to the scrap of hope Spade had dangled right up until the bitter end.

Annette stayed in the far corner of the room, smart. Spade hung up on Juan without another word.

“Cat, let’s get out of here,” Tate said. “You can go back to Don and the team. You’ve always got a home there. You don’t need this.”

I stared at him, cold reality intruding between the searing pain.
That’s right, this isn’t your home. You don’t belong here. You don’t belong anywhere.

“No.”

I thought it, but I wasn’t the one who said it. Vlad brushed by Tate like he wasn’t there.

“Gregor’s shown he won’t let her go, and you can’t protect her from him. You’ll only get your soldiers killed, and her as well, in short order. She can come with me until she decides what she wants to do.”

“I doubt your intentions are honorable,” Spade said, his eyes glinting green.

“If Bones were concerned with my intentions, he’d be here to observe them,” Vlad replied. Tate’s protest wasn’t helping. The mood was quickly turning dangerous. “You’re guarding an abandoned lover, not your best friend’s wife. Why don’t you mind your own love life, since you were lax on that front before.”

If it were possible for a vampire to whiten, Spade just had. Vlad’s reference to Giselda, Spade’s fiancée, who had been murdered, wasn’t lost on me. Quickly, before things were beyond salvaging, I moved between Spade and Vlad. It wasn’t that I was worried about Vlad getting hurt. I was afraid that if Spade touched him, Vlad would burn him to death.

“Spade, whatever you may think, Bones made it crystal clear that we were over. It’s my fault I didn’t accept it. Tate…I can’t go back. There is no going back.”
God, if only there were.
“Vlad, what’s your price? Vampires always have one, so what do you want if I go with you until I figure things out?”

Vlad seemed to consider it. “I’ll take feeding from you as a fair price.”

“Agreed.” Or,
Sold! to the vampire with the coppery-green eyes.

Spade crossed his arms. “There’s no way I’m allowing you to leave with him.”

Don’t get physical
, I sent to Vlad, seeing his lip curl at the challenge.
Spade is my friend, even if he is wrong. No snack for you if you toast him. That goes for Tate as well, since he looks like he’s about to throw himself in our path.

“Do I smell smoke?” Vlad asked, that little smile never leaving his face.

With that, flames began crawling across the walls. It looked like orange and red snakes magically appeared and grew. And grew.

Spade began cursing and went to the sink, filling the nearest containers with water while shouting for assistance.

“If you’re quick, you’ll have it out in no time,” Vlad assured them, holding out his arm to me. “Shall we?”

To stay would be to cause greater damage. The three of them would come to blows, I knew, and no amount of intervention would stop them. Tate already wasn’t rational. He grabbed Vlad’s shoulder—and then went flying up through the ceiling. Both of them, from the sounds of it. Rubble showered down amidst the flames.

Vlad didn’t even blink. “That’s a warning. The next one won’t be.”

I gave a last glance at the hole in the ceiling and the burning walls before I took Vlad’s arm, still reeling from the past fifteen minutes. “Let’s go.”

We got into a car that I assumed was Vlad’s. As we pulled away, there were four distinct ka-booms, and the vehicles in the driveway exploded.

“So they don’t attempt to follow us,” Vlad said in response to my stunned look.

Lightning broke across the sky. It was the last thing I saw before I closed my eyes.

T
HERE ARE FIVE STEPS TO THE GRIEVING
process, or so they say. Denial is the first. I’d had plenty of that since I left Spade’s. Then anger, and oh yeah, I was angry.
Couldn’t even take a few days to stop and think about things, maybe let the dust settle? Oh no, not you, Bones! Back in the saddle, huh, cowboy?

Then bargaining, perhaps the most pathetic one of all, which kept me busy through the flight to our unknown destination.
Let him come back. I love him so much, and he did love me. Maybe we can still work things out…

Fuck him!
my anger said.
I always knew Bones would go back to his old tricks. A leopard can’t change his spots, right? Doesn’t have a wife, huh? Who needs you, anyway?

If the vampire next to me was listening to my mental schizophrenia, he gave no indication. Vlad whistled while my emotions played Russian roulette. By the time he announced we’d arrived, I was into a state of full-blown depression.

Or, in other words, step Number Four.

The car stopped, and I heard people approach. None of them had heartbeats.

My car door opened. There was a light tug on my hand. “Keep them closed a moment longer. I’ll lead you inside.”

A minute of careful stepping later, and we stopped.

“You can open your eyes now, Cat.”

I did. We were in a long hall of some sort, very old-looking. High, high ceilings. Gothic in the very definition of the word.

Vlad smiled. “Enter freely and of your own will, isn’t that what I’m supposed to say?”

I flicked my gaze around the hall. “I’m just staying a few days to get my head on straight.”
And staple together my broken heart.

“Stay as long as you wish. After all, you owe me a debt. It might take me more than a few days to collect on it.”

I gave him a tired look. “Don’t bet on it.”

One thing could be said for staying with the uncrowned Prince of Darkness. He didn’t have a lazy, inattentive staff. After I was shown to my room by a vampire named Shrapnel, I asked what kind of plasmaless drinks they had. Shrapnel didn’t respond by listing them from memory—he brought me the entire beverage contents of the refrigerator. When I told him I would have gone down myself to see it, he stared at me like I was crazy.

Well, he was right on that one.

Vlad had dinner with me each night even though he didn’t eat. He was pretty scarce during the day, tending to his own affairs, I guessed. Not that I knew for sure. I spent most of my time in my room, brooding, my mood swinging wildly from anger at Bones to self-recrimination. Had my relationship been doomed from the start because Bones was incapable of changing his promiscuous ways? Or would everything have been okay if I just hadn’t left that day with Gregor? I didn’t know, and not knowing festered.

I went to the dining room at nine. Dinner was served late, for obvious reasons. Vlad was already seated. His long brown hair was brushed and loose, and he twirled the stem of his wineglass as I took my usual place next to him.

I started to fill my plate from the selections on the table. Rack of lamb with a rosemary reduction, marinated asparagus with mango salsa and tiny, tender red potatoes. Vlad just watched, drinking his wine. Living with a vampire, I’d gotten used to being the one munching while someone else just watched, so I didn’t feel self-conscious.

After a few minutes of silent chewing, I paused. “This lamb is really good. Sure you don’t want to try any?”

“I’ll eat soon.”

Something about his voice made my fork poise over the next bite. Vlad didn’t sound like he was referring to the feast spread before him.

“Are you mentioning that in passing, or prepping me?”

“Gauging your reaction.” With a tilt of his head. “Your eyes aren’t as puffy tonight. And your manner is less downtrodden. Does this mean you’ve finally resigned yourself to Bones’s abandonment?”

It was the first time in four days that he’d mentioned him. Personally, I could have stood to let it go longer.

“Don’t worry, you won’t have to talk me off a ledge again.”

“I’m pleased to hear that.”

He leaned back in his chair, twirling his glass again.

“You haven’t contacted Spade or anyone else since you’ve been here. Aren’t you curious to know if they’ve spoken to him?”

That had me setting down my fork. I didn’t know where he was going with this, but Vlad did nothing without motivation.

“What’s up, buddy? Trying to get my blood pumping? Tenderize me before you dig in? No, I haven’t talked to them, and I don’t want to. I don’t need more gory details.”

“Like whether he has his hands on someone this very minute? Squeezing her, kissing her…holding her naked against him?”

My plate hurled across the room to shatter against the stone wall. Even as I did it, I cursed myself, Vlad, and most of all, Bones.

“You’re just seeing how quickly I’ll lose it, aren’t you?
Gauging
me? Well, I’m a little testy, as you can tell, so excuse me.”

I grabbed my linen napkin and headed toward the broken dish, determined to clean up my own mess, but Vlad was faster. Still seated, he yanked me to him.

“What are you doing?” I snapped.

His hold tightened until he was almost hurting me. “Claiming my blood price.”

I had time to tense before Vlad’s mouth latched onto my throat, and his fangs bit into it.

A cry came out of me, but it wasn’t of pain. Vlad sucked harder, drawing more of my blood into him. Pulsing warmth spread through me with each pull of his mouth.
Vampire venom.
Not harmful, but capable of producing a false, very pleasant sensation of heat.

“Vlad, that’s enough…”

“No.” Muffled. “More.”

He pulled me closer. Now I was half-sagged against him while those deep suctions felt like they went going straight through to my spine.

Vlad ran his hands down my arms. I gasped. They were hot, so unlike a vampire’s normal temperature. Must be from his pyrokinesis. My blood couldn’t warm them that quickly.

Just as fast as he’d grabbed me, Vlad released me. I leaned against the table, my knees far weaker than before.

“That should give you something else to think about,” he said.

“No, it won’t.”

It came from me brokenly. All at once, I started to cry. “I still love him, Vlad! I hate him, too, maybe, but…I still love him.”

His stare didn’t waver. “You’ll get over it.”

Will I?

I didn’t say it out loud, not that it mattered. Vlad could still hear me.

“I’m not hungry anymore,” was what I did say, and left the dining room.

Later that night, I’d just fallen asleep when the bed shifted. My eyes opened in alarm, then a finger pressed to my lips.

“It’s just me. I want to talk.”

I was awake now. People didn’t usually talk while climbing into bed, which described what Vlad was doing.

“Really?” With heavy sarcasm.

He made a dismissing motion. “Don’t white-knuckle the sheets, Cat. I’m not intending to rape you.”

“Where I come from, when people want to talk, they do it while upright.” To punctuate my point, I sat up. Yes, I was gripping the sheets pretty good. “This smacks of coercion at best, pal.”

Vlad just fluffed a pillow under his head and laughed.

“What a perfect picture of outrage you are, Reaper, yet we both know I could burn these sheets to ashes if I wanted to. Come now, aside from your rigid Midwestern upbringing, do you mind that I’m here with you like this?”

My grip relaxed on the bedclothes. He had several points. Vlad was much stronger than I am, so even if he couldn’t torch the sheets, if he’d wanted to force sex, he could. Plus, playing hyperappropriate when he’d sucked over a pint from me seemed a tad hypocritical.

“Fine. What do you want to talk about?”

“Your future.”

I tensed. “You want me to leave. Fine. I’ll—”

“Do you truly believe I came here to tell you I’m throwing you out?” he interrupted. “You should know me better than that.”

“Sorry. It’s been, well, a rough week.”

“Yes.” There wasn’t any false pity in his tone. “Your self-esteem has suffered a severe blow, and you’re very vulnerable. If I had a mind to, you’d be easy to seduce.”

“Full of yourself, aren’t you?” I said with a snort. “But you’re barking up the wrong tree if you thought I’d be looking for a mercy fuck.”

His lips curved. “I already told you, my feelings for you aren’t romantic. I’m here because you are a friend, and for me friends are much harder to come by than a fuck.”

What I felt for him didn’t have to do with attraction either, even though Vlad was certainly attractive. No, I felt an odd sort of kinship with him instead.

“I’m glad you’re here,” I said. It was true. I couldn’t handle this being around Mencheres, or Spade, or anyone else who would have taken me on out of a pitying sense of responsibility.

Vlad squeezed my hand. “You will get through this, but before you can do that, you have to face him.”

Him.
Bones.
I looked away.

“I appreciate the sentiment, but for this topic, it’s wasted. I’m not going to see him. I don’t want to see what he’s doing, or with whom.”

“Catherine, you’re being stupid.”

I stiffened at the insult and my real name. “How so, Drac?” I snapped, using the name he never went by as well.

“You haven’t truly started getting over him because you’re still wondering if he’s really gone. It’s why you won’t let go. It’s also why you’ll end up getting killed, because you’re so distracted over that, you didn’t notice a vampire in your room until he crawled into bed with you. Settle things with Bones, once and for all. Then move on, either with him or without him.”

“I know it’s over,” I said with a catch to my voice. “He told me loud and clear that it was.”

“And you wonder if he really meant it. You’re wondering if he hasn’t done this just to hurt you, like you hurt him by leaving with his enemy during a battle. You’re making yourself crazy wondering if he’s waiting to see if you’ll go after him just like all those times he chased after you.”

“Stop prying into my mind!” To hear my hidden speculations aloud was like surgery without the anesthesia.

“It’s not such an ill-conceived notion,” he went on coolly. “He’d be inflicting your worst fears on you as you did to him. It’s a fair punishment, in my opinion. I just doubt Bones has the backbone to do it.”

“Then why are you telling me to find out if you think I’ll only get shot down again?”

“Because if you’re right, he’ll be knocking on my door soon anyway. If not, then you’re devastated but resolute since you’re much stronger than you realize.”

I chewed my lower lip. Risk getting my heart trampled on again just to see if this was some sort of weird vampire power play? And if it was, could I forgive it? Would I want to?

Either way, I’d know, which I guess was better than driving myself crazier hanging on to that slim thread of wonder.

Vlad must have read it in my mind, because he nodded. “In the morning, call Spade and schedule your meeting with Bones. Bones won’t refuse to see you, no matter his intentions toward you. Then you’ll know if it’s over for good.”

This was too much to contemplate with a low iron count and little sleep. I lay back down with a sigh, forgetting to be self-conscious about being in bed with him.

Vlad settled next to me, putting his head on my pillows.

“Ahem.” I cleared my throat. “Didn’t we just agree that we were only friends?”

“Sex isn’t what I’m after. It’s just been a long time since I’ve slept next to a woman who meant something to me.”

“Oh. Well.” A slumber party with Dracula? All things considered, why not? “Okay, but I snore.”

He grinned. “I
have
been under the same roof with you for a week, so I already know that.”

I gave him a dirty look but then stretched in bed as I normally would.

Vlad put his arms around me and rested his head on my pillow. I should have been embarrassed to be in bed with him, especially since he was bare-chested, and I only had on a long sleep shirt over my underwear, but I wasn’t. It felt nice to fall asleep with someone again, even if he wasn’t the someone I’d been missing.

“Good night, Cat,” he said, though it was almost dawn.

I yawned and closed my eyes.

“Good night, Vlad.”

The knock at the door didn’t wake me. Must have been too soft and tentative. Only when Vlad said, “Come in,” in a less-than-pleased tone did I wake up. God, he was right. My reflexes were shit.

Shrapnel stuck his head inside. I mentally berated Vlad for not giving me a chance to disappear into the bathroom. How incriminating did this look?

“Forgive me, Master, but the caller says it’s urgent. May I give you the phone?”

He held it close to his side, obviously nervous. Maybe Vlad was grumpy when he woke up.

Vlad gestured. “Very well, bring it.”

Shrapnel moved like a jackrabbit, then hurried out, closing the door behind him.

“Who’s this?” Vlad snapped into the phone.

Spade’s voice blared out loud enough to bolt me upright.

“If you don’t put Cat on the line this time, I’m going to roast you alive in your own sodding juices—”

I snatched the phone away from him. “What is it? I’m here, what’s wrong?”

There was a loaded moment of silence. Too late, I realized what I’d done. Vlad lifted a shoulder as if to say,
You’re stuck now
.

“I was told Vlad couldn’t be disturbed because he was in bed.” Each word was a blistering accusation. “That he was
extremely indisposed
. Lucifer’s bloody balls, is this why you haven’t returned my calls?”

“I-I-I didn’t…” Good God, I was stammering.

“Indeed!”

“Look, don’t even!” My anger came to the rescue. “If something’s wrong, tell me, but if you’re just going to play Pussy Police, you should start with your best friend. He’s probably nose deep in one right now.”